Chapter 3 - THE IMPOSTOR’S COUP"Katherine?!" Eleanor shrieked, panic gripping her chest as she realized the catastrophic implications. "That's impossible! She died in a fire twenty-five years ago! Julian said so!"
"Ah, yes. Julian," Evelyn—or rather, Katherine—turned her head to watch the paramedics wheeling Julian toward the double doors. Julian was glaring back at her with pure, unadulterated venom, mouthing words of absolute threat despite his chest pain. "My dear, sweet ex-husband who helped orchestrate my disappearance so he could inherit my trust fund and merge it with your family's estate."
Arthur turned on Eleanor, his fury explosive. "You knew about this."
"I—I didn't!" Eleanor stammered, stepping back. "Julian told me she abandoned him! He said she was a fraud!"
"Julian is a liar, a thief, and a fraud," Katherine said loudly, her voice carrying across the entire ballroom, broadcasted through the still-active microphone system on the stage. She stepped forward into the spotlight, her posture commanding and regal. "And the diamond brooch he accused my six-year-old daughter of stealing? It wasn't in my daughter's pocket. It was sewn right into the lining of Julian's own inner jacket pocket—along with the forged documents he used to illegally siphon three hundred million dollars from the Vance Foundation last Tuesday."
The room erupted into absolute pandemonium. Reporters, who had sneaked into the charity event disguised as guests, began flashing cameras furiously.
Julian thrashed on the stretcher, trying to sit up. "She's lying! Arrest her! She's framing me!"
May you like
"Am I?" Katherine raised her wrist, tapping the screen of her high-end smartwatch. A live security feed from the ballroom's back office instantly projected onto the massive LED screen behind the stage. It clearly showed Julian slipping the diamond brooch into his own pocket an hour earlier, whispering on the phone to an offshore bank account manager.
The screen went black, leaving only the glowing logo of the Vance Corporation's internal security system.
